Sebastian Shan explains how he played Captain America sidekick Bucky Barnes. J.J. Abrams offers a couple more hints about Star Trek and Super-8. Plus more Hobbit casting news, and Steven Moffat shuffles the order of next season's Doctor Who episodes.

Captain America

Sebastian Shan, who plays Captain America's sidekick Bucky Barnes, explains the dynamics between the two characters:

Steve Rogers and Bucky are both orphans and kind of like brothers. They kind of grow up together and look after each other. It's a very human, relatable thing. And growing up in the Army is a very specific thing. There's a certain way these guys carry themselves, there's a certain etiquette, a certain body posture, the way that they interact. So I went back and read the comics and watched a lot of documentaries on World War II. "Band of Brothers" was very helpful. I wanted to make sure I respected the themes in the comics that people related to about Bucky. But at the same time, in my head, we were shooting a movie that takes place in 1944 and it is about a bunch of guys going to war and how they're going to look out for each other. Bucky always protects and looks out for Steve Rogers. I also wanted to look out for how their relationship changes once Steve Rogers becomes Captain America. There's always a competition and they're always one-upping each other. I paid attention to how Bucky is affected by Steve's change and suddenly Steve is this leader.

There's a lot more at the link, including discussion of his upcoming horror movie The Apparition, costarring Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and Twilight vampire Ashley Greene. [MTV]

Super 8

J.J. Abrams refused to say much at all about the movie, although he did confirm that filming had ending and now they're in a very hectic editing phase. He also praised his star, Friday Night Lights's Kyle Chandler, which revealed a few oblique hints about the movie as a whole:

Kyle is the greatest. He's my favorite. I love that guy. I can't say enough about him. He had a very interesting part and it was a wonderful shoot with him. It was interesting, because I got to work with him in a way that I really like to work with actors, which is I like talking about what a moment is, but I don't like over rehearsing things. There are kids in the movie as well, and that requires a little bit more work. I don't like rehearsing all that much and I like jumping in. And Kyle, having done Friday Night Lights, that's all they do. So he loved it! And it was so much fun to sort of say, "Here's the moment. Here's the thing. Let's just shoot it." And he was like, "Great!" His eyes always lit up when it was about just trying it. And his instincts are so good and he's so crazy talented and relatable. I love him. I can't say enough about him.

Abrams also gave this more-of-the-same status report on the Star Trek sequel:

There's a script that's being written by Damon Lindelof and Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman and I can't wait to read it...I've been developing the story with them, so I know the story. But they're writing it and obviously I'm on the edge of my seat to crack the script open.

He also reaffirmed that he can't commit to direct a film that he hasn't read the script for, but that will be a main priority when indeed he does receive the script. [IGN]

The Hobbit

Elijah Wood explained a little bit about how Frodo will fit into the movie:

"We thought we were finished and the character doesn't even exist in [the book of] The Hobbit, so it was not even a pipe dream to imagine the possibility would be there for me to reprise the role of Frodo. But they've come up with something that I think is kind of interesting and I think very fitting that doesn't necessarily infringe upon the integrity of the original novel. It's great. I'm really excited. I think it'll be relatively minimal. That's my impression. I actually haven't read anything yet. I haven't read a script. I have almost as much information as you guys have!"

Wood says he's set to head out to New Zealand in February for filming. [IGN]

Meanwhile, Christopher Lee's official site offered this promising update on whether he would be back to play the not-yet-evil wizard Saruman:

Sir Christopher Lee had been in talks to reprise his role as the wizard Saruman and it now looks certain, providing that he is in good health, that he will be appearing in the movie.

The 88-year-old actor has in the past said he doubted he would be available for The Hobbit, as he probably wouldn't be up for making the long flight to and from New Zealand again. So this can be considered a very positive improvement. [Christopher Lee Web]

There's a rumor going around that David Tennant has, after being mooted for various different roles for the movies, actually signed on to play Legolas's father, the Elf King Thranduil. This, however, remains completely unconfirmed. Considering how fast official casting updates are coming these days, we can probably expect to hear one way or the other in the very near future. [MovieWeb]

At the Mountains of Madness

Guillermo del Toro and James Cameron's upcoming H.P. Lovecraft adaptation may have found a major star for the central role of geologist William Dyer. Tom Cruise reportedly became attached to the project back in December and is on track to star in the film. Previous rumors had held up James McAvoy and Chris Pine as other candidates for the part, but Cruise is supposedly del Toro's preferred choice. [Deadline]

Incarceron

Three actresses are reportedly in the running to join Taylor Lautner in the sci-fi prison movie: Gossip Girl and Green Lantern actress Blake Lively, Winter's Bone and X-Men: First Class's Jennifer Lawrence, and Harry Potter star Emily Watson. Their character is the warden's daughter, who is in her own way just as much a prisoner as Lautner and his fellow inmates in the sentient prison. [Deadline]

Immortals

Tarsem Singh's 3D epic, which stars Mickey Rourke as the ruthless Greek King Hyperion who goes in search of a world-destroying doomsday device, has picked up a distributor for US release, Relativity Media. The cast also includes Stephen Dorff, Isabel Lucas, Frieda Pinto, Kellan Lutz, Henry Cavill, Luke Evans, and John Hurt. [IGN]

The X-Files 3

Although the earlier report that a script is being written turned out to be false, David Duchovny does say he and other key players Gillian Anderson and series creator Chris Carter are definitely up for making another movie:

"We're all like this little X-Files family and I, for one, would love to continue. And I think there's a lot left in the show. You know? And I think we can continue to make good movies. It's just a matter of spending enough on a movie that can compete in the summertime. We made a movie and released it in the summer, but it wasn't really a blockbuster movie. And it got kind of overshadowed by the bigger ones. So, we're saying, make us big. We'll fight with the big boys."

And here are some more photos from that episode, which give us a better look at guest star Christopher Lloyd's burnt out rocker character: [SpoilerTV]

And a few more spoiler tidbits - an upcoming flashback episode (most likely the one that shows us a young Peter) will also show Walter when he was experimenting on Olivia. The alternate universe Olivia will be back before the end of the season, and we will indeed learn more about Peter and his connection to the doomsday machine. [TV Line]

Doctor Who

Steven Moffat announced that Mark Gatiss's episode has been moved from its current slot as the third episode to later on in the second half of the series. In its place, Sherlock writer Steven Thompson is now writing the new episode three. Thompson was earlier rumored to be writing episode 8, which supposedly involved the return of the original, Mondasian Cybermen. Whether that's true or not, Moffat said the change isn't a reflection on the quality of either episode, and simply an effort to "balance the look" of the show, as both Moffat's and Neil Gaiman's episodes are very dark and interior-heavy.

This does, of course, fairly strongly suggest that whatever happens in the big midseason cliffhanger, it won't be so massive and game-changing that an earlier episode couldn't be slotted in after it. So anyone assuming Amy, Rory, or even the Doctor is going to die in the cliffhanger... this should probably be clinching proof that that definitely isn't the case. [Doctor Who News Page]

Torchwood: Miracle Day

In a revelation that really seems pretty obvious in retrospect but had somehow never occurred to me, Captain Jack's own immortality will be crucial to the plot of the upcoming series, in which humanity suddenly loses the ability to die. [TV Line]

True Blood

There's rumors of a fourth season sex scene involving Jason Stackhouse that will make even last year's head-turning Bill and Lorena sex scene seem tame by comparison. [TV Line]

Here's a synopsis and another look at the promo photos for episode 5, "Scales on a Train": [Daemon's TV]

When "The Cape" (David Lyons) tips off Dominic Raoul - aka Scales (Vinnie Jones) - that Peter Fleming (James Frain) has been extorting money from him, Scales heads to a costume party on a train to confront Fleming. "The Cape" and Orwell (Summer Glau), also at the party, discover Max (Keith David) and the gang are going to heist the train, and Vince/The Cape is conflicted about what to do. Meanwhile, Dana (Jennifer Ferrin) and Trip (Ryan Wynott) must endure scrutiny and taunts while trying to deal with their loss. Also starring: Guest star Richard Schiff (Patrick Portman), Martin Klebba (Rollo), Anil Kumar (Ruvi) and Izabella Miko (Raia).

The Event

An official NBC tie-in blog written from an in-universe perspective has reported on the death of fictional Alaska Senator Bernard Lewis and his succession by wife Catherine Lewis. The new senator will soon appear on the show played by Virginia Madsen, and here's the first picture of her in character: [TruthSeeker Blog] [gallery 5732255]

Supernatural

Costar Jim Beaver tweeted that there's "big, great news brewing" for the show but that he can't say anything about it. The speculation is that a seventh season renewal is imminent, but that's purely guesswork for now. [@JumbleJim]

In another tweet, he says he's pretty sure episode 16 is titled "...And Then There Were None." [@JumbleJim]

Locke & Key

Nick Stahl - also known as the other, other, other John Connor - has reportedly joined the upcoming TV adaptation of the graphic novel. He will reportedly play Duncan Locke, the younger brother of Miranda Otto's main character Nina who frequently visits his big sister's strange house. [Deadline]

Being Human

The third series of the BBC original reportedly premieres on January 23 on BBC3. [SpoilerTV]